Kassidy Irvan, Ph.D.

Technical Specialist II, Social and Behavioral Science

Kassidy Irvan, Ph.D., is a Technical Specialist in Social and Behavioral Science at Democracy International (DI). Dr. Irvan provides technical consultation to clients and teams across DI, helping them integrate social and behavioral insights into the design, implementation, and evaluation of international development, democratization, and peacebuilding programs. Prior to her position as a Technical Specialist, Dr. Irvan was the Social and Behavioral Science Graduate Fellow for DI. During her fellowship, she provided social and behavioral change consultation for programs focused on promoting civic education and human rights, reducing community and gender-based violence, and bridging the trust gap between governments and their constituencies. In this position, Dr. Irvan also provided technical support for the development and implementation of social and behavioral science trainings for international partners.

She earned her M.S. and Ph.D. in Social Psychology from Florida State University, where she applied her training in survey, experimental, and quantitative methodologies to research how moral psychology interacts with personality, politics, and prejudice to impact people’s judgment and decision-making. During her doctoral education, she spent the summer of 2018 working in London for Florida State University’s Psychology Study Abroad Program, which provided her an opportunity to teach undergraduate students about the application of moral and political psychology to Brexit and the evolving British political context. In 2017, her doctoral education also afforded her the chance to attend the Social Cognition and Neuroscience Summer School Program at the Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg in Germany, where she received hands-on training in advanced quantitative methodology. She holds an M.A. from Wake Forest University. During that time, she conducted moral character and moral exceptionality research for two multi-million dollar Templeton-funded grant projects. Dr. Irvan also holds a B.A. from Baylor University with a double major in psychology and philosophy.

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